As Klouchbar, Harris, and others walk back support for Medicare for All, free public college tuition, and the Green New Deal, apparently due to the fact they are relying on corporate/financier money, I have stayed with the tried and true, Bernie Sanders. There are two overarching factors for early primary voters that any smart political strategist would tell us: (1) name recognition and (2) trust. This time, Bernie has both, and nobody else has that combination. My take has always been it is not "Bernie vs. Some New Face." It is Bernie v. Biden or some coalesced corporate media hyped candidate. It is not about "new faces," "young faces," compelling biographies, or the like. It is about protecting corporate power and we have to be more vigilant in recognizing what emanates from our televisions and radio, in terms of punditry especially, is corporate propaganda. Once we start with that recognition, we are able to discern where the hype is, and is not. Note the media was not anywhere near as breathless about Bernie's announcement compared to, say, Harris' announcement.
As for Elizabeth Warren, corporate media is not going to coalesce around Warren, unless the corporate media has another death wish to re-elect Trump. I love Warren's policy proposals, and her domestic policies are outstanding. But sadly, I also find too many potential Democratic Party voters in the very States Clinton lost in 2016, but should have won, feel as if they don't trust Warren due to the Native American imbroglio. I find that to be a trivial issue, and one where Warren is being flogged in a way that is deeply unfair. However, it speaks to a resentment from the white working classes (lower to upper middle) in places like WI, MI, PA, and OH, who don't like the feeling she may have maneuvered her career based upon a misleading heritage claim. One more thing about Warren: Let's not give her a pass on her foreign policy positions. Too often, she shows she is afraid to challenge any aspect of the Empire, and the conduct of Israeli governments, while Bernie has been far better, though some may say he pulls punches, too.
I like the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttegeig. A lot. I especially liked his answer the other day to the question about socialism making a comeback in American politics. He said younger people don't worry about whether something is socialist or capitalist as much as whether it makes sense or works or not--and that whether something is socialist is the beginning of a debate, not the end; something I have said for decades out here in the cold. I also don't get the sense Mayor Pete is walking back from the positions Klouchbar and the others have walked back, though that may be a function of his not getting corporate/financier money, and not being a corporate media executive darling...I can't say. Still, Mayor Pete suffers from a lack of name recognition, and corporate media is not interested in promoting him, which means death in the early primaries, including SC and CA.
Therefore, right now, it makes the most sense for progressives to publicly back, endorse, and promote Bernie. And even if we are still not certain, sitting back, and not endorsing Bernie, is only going to play into corporate media hands, as corporate media executives are contemptuous and fearful of Bernie's positions. That is why these newbies have buckled under the pressure from the elites behind corporate media to walk away from progressive positions that a majority of American support.
If another progressive with high levels of trust does well, Bernie would be the first to recognize it and step away. He has far less ego than most people who run for president. However, if the field stays crowded into 2020 early primaries, Bernie will get at least 25% or more of the vote, based upon trust and name recognition. This will make him a kingmaker and potential person for the younger candidates to decide to hitch their stars. I hope Bernie chooses a VP candidate by the end of 2019 so we may see a progressive team which speaks to the issues that are at least as much class based, as identity politics based. I have become convinced over the years that one without the other is a betrayal, and to speak of class based economic populism and identity politics as separate and exclusive is the problem. It is not about whether we accent one or the other; they must be part of a seamless garment.
None of what I have written here is a prediction analysis, once one gets past the name recognition and trust factors. This is an analysis of hope for our nation, for our children, and grandchildren, and for our planet. Therefore, when someone asks you, whether a friend, acquaintance, pollster, etc., Who do you support for President? Just say "Bernie." And let's see how we can mess up the corporate media narrative makers, at least. It will also push the newbie candidates into a corner where they say to their corporate/financier donors, "Bernie's making us look bad. We have to adapt. Sorry." It won't mean we trust those others, but it changes the narrative the corporate media is trying so desperately to sell us. And yes, I recognize what the DNC did last time. Last time, the point of the HRC candidacy was to muffle progressive positions. Bernie ran because he wanted to promote progressive policies, and the DNC did what it could to sabotage the effort, with their handmaidens in the corporate media outlets. This time, the DNC strategy to sabotage progressive politics is to flood the field with "new" people. It is to create chaos, and hope Biden or some media executive darling gets 20-25% of each vote to create momentum and push people into that corner for neo-liberal domestic policies/neo-conservative foreign policies. That is how the system operates. It is again why standing with Bernie upsets that systemic narrative cycle.
